Highly Frustrated!!!

[reginacarlson]

I submitted my documents to the Home Office nearly 6 weeks ago to apply for an EEA2 Residence Card. The card confirms my right of residence under European law and are normally valid for five years. The processing time now takes about 6 to 9 months.

Anyway, I received the Certificate of Application (COA) today and to my dismay upon reading it, I found out that they screwed up! The body of the letter was correct, it states "Thank you for your application of 12 January 2009 for a Residence Card or Permanent Residence Card. Until such time as your application has been decided by the UK Border Agency, you will be treated for immigration purposes as a family member of a legally resident EEA national and, as such, you are free to live and work in the United Kingdom..."

A letter from the Home Office to prove that I can legally live and legally work here is just what I need. Now the problem is, they addressed the letter to my husband instead of me! I wasn't mentioned anywhere at all! Which I find totally absurd because 1st: my husband doesn't need the certificate because he's French and 2nd: the Residence Card are only for family members of an EEA national but who are not themselves a national of an EEA country!

It's really and extremely annoying having to wait 6 weeks only to find out that the Home Office messed up! I can't believe how stupid they are!

[joebloggs]

gov is in no rush to process COA's, no money in it for them, and it doesn't care about time limits imposed by european law.

and they make mistakes even when you do pay

[reginacarlson]

Bunch of unprofessionals!

[aromulus]

my husband he's French

A la Guillotine...........

[reginacarlson]

A la Guillotine...........

LOL! Alla ghigliottina pronto!

[flomike]

17 of Feb 2009 i submitted my naturalization application using the NCS service altogether my husband cost him £700 which is a lot of money so we're going to eat sardines in the tins for a few months. The person who checked my application said to me that in two weeks time Im going to receive a HOME OFFICE acknowledgement letter and more or less my application will be finalize in 3-7 months great. Im hoping no mistakes will happen.

Atleast EEA family members don't need to pay any fee at all and they need to do is to wait, but us whose paying that big amount still need to wait that long and after that another fee for passport

[vrn]

hello Regina, I just came across of this thread because i found out that you are married to a french national, like me. I thought that it might be a nice idea to have a chat with you someday...

I applied an EEA residency card on March 2008 and the home office sent me COA. The home office said that it will normally take 6 months for the processing of the EEA card but its already the end of September and the document didn't arrive, my husband and i were really desperate until my husband decided to file a complain through European Commission SOLVIT, which acted on our behalf, its free of charge...thanks from them. We even received an Apology Letter from the home office saying that they were sorry for the delay and that we had to file a complain. I finally received my residency card on November 2008.

I'm hoping that you will be able to have your documents sorted soon.

[aromulus]

I had this horrible nagging feeling yesterday about Jet's residence card, and asked het to let me have a look at her passport.
When she finally presented it to me I had a great little surprise.... It is valid until 2013....

Then I started thinking of ILR and all that jazz and how to avoid the rigmarole of asking for Schengen Visas if we were to travel abroad from time to time, and the solution hit me right between the yes....
Why didn't I really think about it before...???

If living outside of Italy Jet can apply for Italian Citizenship (Dual) after 3 years of marriage.
And only after 6 months if living in Italy... (But this does not apply...)

About costs....
I am not sure at the moment but if I manage to get through to the Consulate , I will find out.... Hopefully.

This little solution will be of great help, as an Italian Passport, like others of the major EEA partners, does entitle the holder, to travel to most countries around the world without having to apply for an entry visa before departure (Visa free or stamped on arrival).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_passport

Now............

The same could apply to Pinays married to other EEA Husbands. It is your right.

So ladies I suggest you nag your "Hubbies" () to reasearch it and find out... It could be worth while....

No more messing about with Schengen Visa, and fees.
No more different queues at Immigration.